Help - bumblefoot

[tia]

My duck Angel had bumblefoot and I've been taking her to the vet. She had me soaking her foot twice a day in an iodine solution. Then I put some antibiotic on it with DMSO twice a day. Angel was improving rapidly but still limping a bit. The sore is gone but the area still looks swollen to me. She gave her some Metacam for pain and inflamation. All seemed to be going well. I took her back to the vet Friday and she said to take her off all meds that she looked good, even said she could go for a swim and return to the rest of the ducks. Toward the end of the day she was limping again, so I took her out and put her back in her dog kennel. I gave her some more meds and when I checked on her this morning she looked worse. She tries to stand up, but that leg feels hot and it is bothering her. She did have diahrea this morning. She is eating and seems to be feeling fine otherwise. She even laid a big girl egg this morning. The bumblefoot is all healed over, but there is still a bump there. I'm going to try and include a picture. If anyone has any ideas please let me know. We had a visiting vet who left today and now we are back to the regular vet who is not as familiar with birds. I don't want to lose Angel. I am posting a picture of her feet so you can see the difference. The first one is the foot she had bumblefoot on - it is toward the back of her foot. The second picture is her good foot. Any suggestions anyone has would be appreciated.

 

[chickensducks&agoose]

The veins in the bad foot look much darker than the ones in the good foot. I would worry about systemic infection. I've never given any of my ducks medicine, but I think it might not be a bad thing to get more opinions on an IM injection of antibiotics...

 

[ArizonaNessa]

These threads might be a interest to you. Good Luck.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=303829

https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=195545

I know these are for chickens but I believe it's the same process. There was another thread with pics of the surgery with step by step instructions but my search feature is not working and I can't find it listed

 

[tia]

Thanks for the information. I bet that plug is still in there. I will take her back to the vet. If not I guess I will have to take care of it myself. There is lots of good information there thanks.

 

[CityChicker]

That duck's feet look completely normal to me, almost picture perfect (unless it is deceptive because I am on my laptop). Duck feet are very prone for getting cracks and callouses. They will often appear as areas of thickened, raised tissue. This is completely normal and they are not always in the same place or equally distributed between the feet (probably because it depends of factors like how the individual duck distributes its weight). Editing to add- a previous serious Bumble foot infection could definitely cause a permanently raised callous-like area.

If there was still a plug in there, it would be more obvious. You would generally see a darkened area and a scab. I don't see that at all. Also, on this board, about 90% of the time when someone thinks a duck has Bumble foot, it doesn't. I haven't read all of your duck's history or how long she had Bumble foot, but there are a number of reasons she could still be limping slightly including that it has simply become a learned behavior. It could also still be tender. She also could just be getting accustomed to walking normally again. Any number of things. Imagine what it is like for you when you have been walking a long time on an injured foot or ankle. Think of what it does to your whole body and how long it takes to go back to walking normally.

 

[tia]

Well I hope it is normal. I will give her a little while and if she doesn't get better by Monday I will take her back to the vet.

 

[Funky Feathers]

There are more threads on Bumblefoot. My ducks are recovering nicely from it. After dealing with it for 2 months, believe me, what you have is NOT Bumblefoot. I would be so happy if my ducks' feet looked like that. Check those 2 links again, I added before & after pics of mine to one of them (forgot which one). Look for post from today. Nettie makes great booties for ducks with tender feet. Check it out at Indoorducks.com.

ETA: look at the last post on the first thread ArizonaNessa linked to. You'll see my pics.

 

[tia]

She did have a big ugly sore to begin with - that had a big black scab on it. It is because of the antibiotics and the DMSO and Nettie's shoes that it is better. I just don't understand why she doesn't want to walk. It does appear to be swollen too in that one area where the bumblefoot was. I just now got her out of the pen and she ate a little food and had some water.

 

[Funky Feathers]

their feet do get tender after healing up from bumblefoot, as the tissue is softer. the feet need to toughen back up. keep the shoes on for a while longer.

 

[TennesseeTruly]

My Lucy's foot looks way worse than your ducks foot. We're still treating her and we're going to keep Nettie's shoes on her for a while. She's not limping though. Not at all. I sure hope your duck heals and stops limping.

Laurie